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Commissioner Burman: The History of Collaboration in the Colorado Basin
On August 24, 2020, Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman, Daniel Simmons of the U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technology Office, and Ryan Fisher of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed a federal hydropower generation memorandum of understanding at Hoover Dam.
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Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
12 | HYDRO LEADER | November/December 2020
Brenda Burman: I have been interested in water and working in water my whole career. That goes all the way back to my time as a park ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. I was immediately interested in the Southwest and how important water is to its history, communities, and environment. When I decided to go to law school, I knew I wanted to work in water and natural resources. I started off in private practice in Arizona. As a young attorney, I worked on tribal settlements. I learned so much from doing that. I learned how important water is to different communities and that you can only find success when all the neighbors and communities are working together. You really need to find a win for each of the communities and to establish certainty about their water supplies in order to move forward. hydroleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.
rom its roots at the turn of the 20th century, the Bureau of Reclamation has grown to be the nation’s largest water supplier and its second-largest supplier of hydroelectricity, playing a critical role in western agriculture and urban development. Under the leadership of Commissioner Brenda Burman, Reclamation has played a key role in moving forward collaboration in the Colorado River basin, particularly with the 2019 signing of the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), an ambitious agreement designed to reduce risk on the Colorado River and sustain the river system into the future. In this interview, Commissioner Burman reflects on the history of collaboration in the Colorado basin that paved the way for the DCP and the agreements of the future.
